Guatemala Updates II

We have completed 2 of 3 development projects in the Patzun area in the past few days. I will just let you know about the first one today.

The third project will be completed Sunday just before we take off back to Canada.

On Saturday we payed for and helped install the new goal posts at the field in Cojobal.

After paying the local metal worker, we jumped on the back of a flat bed truck,with the goal posts, and wove through the narrow streets of Patzun to Cojobal.

When we arrived we were greeted by members of the local soccer team and various members of the Cojobal community.

The installation was truly a community effort as everyone from local children to the land owner lent a hand.

Within literally minutes the posts were in use.

The real community celebration came the day after when Cojobal hosted a local soccer tournament, and we became officially part of the community as the Cojobal community representative recorded the event in the towns History book.

The man pictured below, Ismael Marroquin (affectionately `Santa Claus´) is the owner of the land the Cojobal field is located on. He donated it to the local community free of charge as a place for people to gather and enjoy themselves, not only for soccer. He had lived in the city of Guatemala for 50 years before returning to Cojobal, his birthplace, a few years back and has been an active communitarian throughout this time.

Ismael also plays on the local team which, at 65 years old, is quite an admirable feat (try and find him in the team photo above). We shared a drink after setting up the nets and he agreed to let us tell his story and photograph him.